The pilot / co-pilot compartment would prove to be the most difficult part of building the B-17 interior.  One of the biggest problems was related to sources.  The vast majority of photographs of the pilot compartment that can be found online show interiors of modern airshow versions.  They tend to show stripped down interiors and some modern equipment.  It became important before I started to make sure I could get as many original WWII sourced photos that I could and understand what it was I was looking at.  I spent a lot of time working on this particular compartment and I believe that at least 1/3 of all the polys in the aircraft will be associated with this compartment. 

The first images show the instrument panel.  I wanted this to be very articulated and so nice it could be viewed inches away without betraying its polygons.

The rest of the images show other areas of the cockpit.  I am not going to show images of the top turret since I am leaving that for the next blog.

I hope you enjoyed a look at this cockpit.